Fallout 76: How Mods And Private Servers Work, And When They're Coming

Fallout 76, like previous games in Bethesda’s franchise, will feature mods, but how will they work with the game’s new always-online, multiplayer focus? We chatted with Bethesda marketing boss Pete Hines recently, and he told us that mods in Fallout 76 will only run on private servers.

“Mod support is going to be tied to work that we’re also doing on private servers, and letting people do private servers. Mods will be a thing that run on private servers,” he said.

Hines said it’s unlikely Bethesda will ever allow mods to run on Fallout 76’s 24-player public servers. Mods are user-created modifications that are capable of doing pretty much anything people can think up, so it makes sense that Bethesda wants to restrict them to private servers to help ensure a semblance of fairness.

“I don’t foresee a universe in which we allow players to come in [to Fallout 76’s public servers] with their own unique and different mods. If you want to run mods, they’ll have to be done on a private server,” Hines explained. “You’ll be deciding what sort of mods you’re including and running, and everyone playing on that server is playing with those mods.”

Mods aren’t coming to Fallout 76 at launch, however. Hines cautioned that mods may not be supported in Fallout 76 until November 2019 at the soonest. “It’s going to be a lot of work. But mods and private servers are definitely coming,” Hines said.

Mods in Bethesda games like Fallout 4 and Skyrim have been and continue to exceptionally popular and helping contribute to the longevity of those games and others across the industry. Those games, however, are exclusively single-player experiences, whereas Fallout 76 is always-online.

Fallout 4 and Skyrim initially only supported mods on PC, but they later came to PS4 and Xbox One, albeit with some limitations. It remains to be seen if Fallout 76 mods will launch first on PC.

GameSpot recently had the opportunity to play three hours of Fallout 76. For lots more, check out our deep-dive written preview and video coverage in the embed above. You can also check out some recent news stories and videos through the links below.